Langsnuitvleermuizen uit Aruba en Bonaire gevangen in Venezuela
Bericht uitgegeven door Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) [land] op [publicatiedatum]
Precies een jaar geleden werd bevestigd dat langsnuitvleermuizen (Leptonycteris curasoae) tussen de Nederlands Caribische eilanden migreren, toen onderzoekers van de Natural and Historic Resources Unit van STINAPA Bonaire een langsnuitvleermuis op Bonaire aantroffen die oorspronkelijk op Curaçao geringd was. In de tussentijd is ook Aruba toegevoegd aan de lijst, toen vleermuizen die geringd waren op Bonaire, op Aruba werden aangetroffen. Deze observaties lieten zien dat er sprake is van een metapopulatie van langsnuitvleermuizen die zich verplaatst over alle drie de ABC eilanden. Dankzij aanhoudende monitoring van dit vliegende zoogdier door een toegewijd team van onderzoekers, kunnen we nu ook Venezuela aan deze lijst toevoegen.
Lees verder in het Engels…
Exactly one year ago, researchers from STINAPA Bonaire's Natural and Historic Resources Unit recaptured a Long-nosed Bat (Leptonycteris curasoae) on Bonaire originally tagged on Curaçao, confirming that this species migrates between the islands. Over the last year, Aruba was added to the list when bats ringed on Bonaire were recaptured on Aruba. These recaptures demonstrated that there is a meta-population of Long-nosed Bats moving between all three islands. Thanks to ongoing monitoring of this nocturnal flying mammal by a team of dedicated researchers, we now know that these bats migrate as far as Venezuela.
In March 2014, three Long-nosed Bats tagged on Aruba and one on Bonaire were recaptured in Venezuela by a team of scientists, led by Dr. Jafet Nassar from the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC). The recaptures took place close to the city of Coro in the state of Falcón in mainland Venezuela. This was the 'missing piece of the puzzle' of the migratory and long-distance movements of these amazing creatures. This exciting discovery is the product of more than five years of monitoring by STINAPA Bonaire, CARMABI, Fundacion Parke Nacional Arikok (united in the Bat Conservation Program of the ABC Islands - PPRABC) and the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research. During this time, more than 6,000 individual bats were captured and tagged.
The Long-nosed Bat has an important ecological role on the ABC islands as a key pollinator species for several species of columnar cacti. This discovery adds to our understanding of mammalian ecology and the population dynamics of this keystone species and could have significant implications for the management and conservation of bat populations on the Dutch Caribbean islands and abroad.
PPRABC is a member of RELCOM - The Latin American and Caribbean Network for Bat Conservation.
Lees het hele artikel in BioNews.
Tekst: Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA)
Foto: Christian König
Kaart: Google Earth
Nederlandse inleiding: Paul Westerbeek, Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance